"Jack?
Jack! Oh my gosh! I haven't seen you since.." I began, staring up
at him with a grin.

"Since
you were in hospital?" he offered with a smile.

I frowned.
What was he talking about? I couldn't remember seeing him at the
hospital, but then again, I had been on a lot of pain medication.

"What do
you mean?" I asked, confused.

"Ben and
I came to see you when you were in the hospital Kate, the first day
you were there." He explained, and I suddenly realised that he was
still holding me against his chest. I blushed, with the cast on I
must have weighed a tonne, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Ahm,
ok. They doped me up so much for the pain that most of that day and
night are a blur. You know you can put me down now." I told him.

He laughed
and gently lowered me to my feet. I grimaced as my leg twisted at an
odd angle.

"Are you
al right?" he demanded, and I nodded, painfully.

"Yeah,
just a twinge. So, it's not Halloween, what's with the outfit?"

Jack
blushed, and held his hands out.

"does it
suit me? Get it? Suit me? Firefighter suit!"

I groaned,

"Your
leg?" he asked, a worried frown creasing his forward, and I shook
my head.

"Nah,
your shocking sense of humour."

He looked
wounded and I smiled and let him help me to my car. Mai Li was
sitting in the passenger seat already and I watched as she got out of
the car and ran to hug Jack.

"Hey
gorgeous! Feels like it's been forever!" she told him, and he
smiled and looked over her had at me.

"the
drugs?" he asked, and I smiled and nodded.

"Probably"

Mai Li
laughed,

"Yeah!
Ha ha! The drugs.. It's so funny.. I don't get it but I'm sure
it's funny.. ok, I'll shut up now."

I looked
at her with a grin.

"Thank
you"

Mai Li
climbed back in the car and I eased myself into the backseat. We
would have to wait for my dad to drive us home, but he was over at
the Aussie Disposals store, and the inner nerd always went nuts
whenever he in there so it might be awhile.

Jack stuck
his head in the window.

"I
volunteer with them, after classes, weekends, that kind of thing."
He told me. And I nodded. God I loved a man in uniform, ugh.. If my
leg wasn't broken, I'd kick myself.

MAI
LI'S POV

I
desperately wanted to talk to Katelyn about her little conversation
with Jack, but there was no way I could say anything with Mr Matthews
in hearing distance. I kenw that Katelyn got along much better with
her parents now, but I highly doubted that she would want me
discussing the details of her life with her in front of them.

We pulled
into Katelyn's street and I almost wanted to explode with
frustration.

I climbed
out of the car and helped Katelyn out of the back. We hobbled into
the house and Mrs Matthews pounced, scaring the wits out of me.

"Wow,
Mrs Matthews.. You're.." I struggled for the right word.

"I'm
bloody huge! If they'd had me on the Titanic, it wouldn't of
sunk!" she wailed, and I cringed.

"Uh no.
You're not huge. I mean you're very large.. But huge is like
elephant.. or water buffalo! You're not huge!" I told her and
heard Katelyn laugh behind me.

"Relax
Mai, My mothers been taking 'baby and me, acting classes' she
doesn't mean a word of it" she told me and I sighed,

Phew,
crisis averted!

"Spoil
my fun!" Mrs Matthews muttered, and we laughed.

"How
long till you're due?" I asked and she smiled.

"A few
more weeks, and junior will be joining us," she told me proudly,
and I grinned. I had always wanted a large bunch of kids, I figured
it was because I was an only child.

I would
have to talk to Jett about that one though.

I pulled
Katelyn away, and we went to her bedroom.

"Didn't
Jack look good!" I exclaimed as I closed the door behind us.

Katelyn
shrugged, "He looked all right, I suppose."

"Oh come
off it, Mr tie me up tie me down more like it!" I scoffed, and she
giggled. Uh oh, I thought, Katelyn never giggled, unless she was
uncomfortable, or she was getting ready to lie through her teeth, and
neither was an option I liked.

"Hang
on! I'm with Christian remember?" she laughed, and I grimaced,
yeah, I remembered, but the question was, did she?

"Have
you spoken to Christian? Are you definitely back on?" I asked her,
wondering if she would take the offered loophole and try to justify a
possible attraction to Jack.

"Well
no, but It's me and Christian, you know.. we don't need to define
ourselves."

Double uh
oh!

"That's
fine Katelyn, but just remember, if you string either of these boys
along, one is bound to get hurt." I told her, suddenly serious.

"Look,
don't even worry about it. I'm with Christian, Jack's with
Rachel, it's all good."

I didn't
want to burst her little fantasy bubble, so I kept quiet. I
remembered the card that had arrived for me a few days earlier. It
was from Rachel, there was a letter inside.

It was
mostly about school, but she did happen to mention that her and Jack
had just broken up, well, that she had dumped him.

I kept my
mouth shut, I knew it probably wasn't my decision to make, But
Katelyn always seemed to let herself in for heartache because she
didn't know how to say no.

There was
no way in heck she was going to hear about Jacks single status from
me..

KATELYN'S
POV

I sat down
on my bed, mulling over what Mai Li had been saying. She was right,
there was no way I could lead one of them on when I wasn't serious
about them.

Sure Jack
had looked great in his uniform, but at the end of the day he was
still the same old Jack. He was still the guy that at lunchtime would
save the icing from his cake for me. The guy that would rib me to
death about being on the football team, but the first to jog out onto
the field to the huddle at half time.

Besides,
he was with Rachel, what the heck was I thinking?

My life
was finally getting back on track and here I was trying to complicate
it further!

I got to
my feet and hugged Mai Li,

"Just
hit me if I do anything stupid ok?" I asked her, knowing she'd
have no hesitation.

"Absolutely"
she grinned back.

"Pizza?"
I offered and she nodded.

I picked
up the phone on the side of my bed and dialled.

"One
large Hawaiian ple- OW! What was that for?" I demanded.

"I want
Margarita!" she hissed.

I groaned,
I wasn't even ordering pizza. A few of the girls and I had
organised to throw Mai Li a hens night, and that was the cue for them
to come over.

CHRISTIAN'S
POV

I lay on
my back on my bed in UQ. It so wasn't fair that Katelyn and Mai Li
were on holidays whilst the rest of us mere mortals had to slog it
out here at school. I looked up as Jett stuck his head around the
door.

"Come
in. Geez, you look more bummed than I feel, what's up?"

Jett
sighed and ran a hand through his hair,

"Well,
it's just.. It's just"

"Spit it
out man" I encouraged, and he smiled briefly, before his mouth
returned to it's downward arc.

"It's
Mai Li's surprise bachelorette party tonight!" he exclaimed, and
slammed his fist down on the comforter.

"Ok,
first, that's goosedown, so don't wreck it! And second, what's
the big deal, so they'll go out and party.. what's the prob?"

Jett
groaned.

"That's
exactly it though, they'll party, Katelyn's taking Mai Li to a
strip joint.. it's this feminist place, men in nothing but
loincloths drinking shots from their navels! THAT'S WHAT!" he
screeched.

I laughed,
I couldn't help it, Jett was doing his head in. I was glad that I
didn't.. Hang on? Katelyn's taking them there? Oh my god!

"ok,
this isn't good.. we need to do something about this." I told
him, climbing to my feet and grabbing my jacket and keys.